All Things Considered
by Xerxies19
Summary: Things get out of hand when a jealous and obsessive Squall starts hitting on Hayner to attract Seifer's attention. A little dark, some OoCness on Squall's part, and fluffy. Oneshot, based in the Lifeline universe. Story idea credit goes to sexypancake.


-1 Hayner never expected the man who sat to the right of him in first-year college biology to be bisexual. He also didn't expect that the brunet was an old rival of Seifer's, who had very recently moved to Twilight from both boys' old hometown, and that he would bear a scar that was the mirror image of the blond bully's. And the very, very last thing he'd expect was that the other freshman, who went by Squall, would start hitting on him in class. He did expect one thing in all this though, his boyfriend was going to be pissed if he got wind of it. So the brown-eyed boy didn't mention it to him.

He'd tried his best to explain to the younger of the two scarred males that he had a steady and extremely possessive boyfriend, but the other was persistent. Ignoring the stormy-eyed man's advances in class and pretending they didn't happen out of class was working wonderfully. Until the leanly muscled eighteen year-old started practically stalking him, following the blond couple on their way home from classes or to work. Of course the blue-eyed man noticed, but he seemed to enjoy keeping a cool distance from his old acquaintance and didn't confront him about it.

Sensing there was something going on that went beyond just a middle school rivalry, he decided to ask the brunet about it after class before the smaller male's partner came to pick him up and walk him to his last class (inevitably stealing a kiss somewhere along the way). It was revealed, much to his surprise, that Squall had at one point entertained a crush on his blond rival, but that the latter never acknowledged it, or him for that matter.

Getting the feeling that he was really only being used by the taller man as a way to get back at Seifer, he turned to leave, practically running right into the subject of the conversation. Giving the dark-haired man a suspicious glare, the eldest grabbed the sandy-haired skater's hand and walked them away hastily.

"What was that all about? Is he bothering you or something? I'll kick his ass for you if you want him off your back."

"No, we were just talking about class," the younger lied.

"You seemed upset right before you nearly crashed into me, I really doubt you were talking about class. Are you going to tell me what's wrong?"

He shook his head as they came up to his next class, "There's nothing wrong, really."

Looking skeptical, the fighter sighed and leaned in to peck him on the lips before leaving to go to his own class. Feeling a bit guilty that he'd lied to the person who meant the most to him, he slipped into the room behind him. He had to find some way to convince Squall to leave him the hell alone. If the leader of the Twilight Disciplinary Committee found out that his rival was trying to steal his boyfriend, the situation could only lead to a fist fight.

This time the biology student didn't follow the couple home, apparently realizing that doing so would only increase his old crush's suspicions. It made the younger blond hopeful that he might yet give up on his pursuit. That hope was quickly quashed when the next day the larger man resumed the same staring, lingering touches whenever he could get close enough, and every ten minutes or so pestering him to go out for either coffee or dinner. Resisting the urge to stab him in the gut with his pencil, the skinny skater continued to brush him off irritably.

The muscular fighter didn't bother him about what was going on between the two freshman again, though he could feel the other's hackles raise when the scarred brunet was around. It was clear the ice blue-eyed man was extremely territorial. Squall refused to back down, and after another week of having to put up with being constantly hit on, Hayner was close to punching the stormy man himself. They were dissecting rats, and it was, of course, a partner operation. And since his luck was god-awful, the sandy-blond got stuck with the person in the class he liked the least because they sat next to each other.

After narrowly enduring an hour of surprisingly strong hands ghosting over his as they worked (the scarred man was damn lucky not to get a scalpel in the face), he'd gone to wash the formaldehyde off his hands in the bathroom. His lab partner followed him while the rest of the males in the class, for whatever reason, left without cleaning the smell of preservatives off their hands. When after a few seconds he felt hands running down his taught abdomen, he had a pretty good idea why. The grey-eyed teen had probably scared them off, leaving his prey alone and vulnerable.

"Squall, get the fuck off of me right now," he growled, very ready to break the larger boy's face. To his immense astonishment, the other college student complied, removing his questing hands and backing up just enough that the dark-eyed man could turn around and potentially get away. Furious, the blond male whirled and was just about to deck his attacker when the latter's arms trapped him, hands slammed onto the sink counter and foreign lips pressed against his.

Fighting back the revulsion he felt, his kneed the teen in front of him in the groin, hard. As he recoiled, the slight skater punched him in the nose. He wasn't normally the type to enjoy violence, but this time the sound of the cartilage breaking brought a feeling of satisfaction. The dark-haired man hit the floor hard, holding his bleeding nose.

"What the FUCK is wrong with you?" The gang member shouted, trying and failing to hide how upset he was at the moment. When the leather jacket-clad teen just laughed and looked towards the bathroom entrance, Hayner froze. Raising his eyes, he saw the very last person he wanted to be there. His boyfriend, his expression a mix of shock and rage, was standing in the threshold.

"Seifer, I-"

"I know Hayner, this wasn't your fault. Get out of here, I'll handle him," the older man's voice was disturbingly calm, his face like a thin sheet of ice covering a raging river beneath. It took the collective power of three brain cells to figure out that the muscular blond was fucking pissed.

As much as he wanted to keep them from beating each other senseless, he realized with a slight sick feeling that it had never been about him in the first place, at least not for Squall. Grabbing his books, he gave the bully his best 'don't be stupid' look before leaving. His next class was a dull grey blur, he didn't remember much, and lucky for him Olette was in the class so he'd be able to copy her notes once he wasn't in quite such turmoil. Hopefully the person he was caught up worrying about wouldn't notice that he'd chewed his lip to the point of bleeding again.

Not expecting the man he loved to be there to walk him out, he moved through the halls alone. Once outside, he dumped his bag next to a pillar before sitting with his back against it, resting his forehead on his knees. He didn't have much time to think before someone sat down next to him and he felt spikes along his scalp for a second as Roxas nudged him with his head in an affectionate gesture. Sometimes his best friend really reminded him of a cat.

"I heard that Seif and the new kid got into a fight. What happened?"

"Squall had a crush on Seifer before he left town. He's never forgiven Seifer for not acknowledging him, so he kept hitting on me in bio to try to get back at him. He came up behind me in the bathroom and kissed me, Seifer saw. You can imagine how that went," he said after lifting his head to meet vibrantly blue eyes. Axel was standing a little ways off, giving them space.

"They both claim to have 'fallen down the stairs', and no one actually witnessed the fight, so neither is going to get in trouble. Even if everyone knows they kicked each other's asses, there's no proof. You okay man?"

"I just had a guy molest me in the bathroom after dissecting a rat with him."

"Point taken. Hopefully after this he'll leave you the fuck alone, maybe after having a few ribs broken he'll figure out it's not a good idea to screw with you. You think Seifer will be pissed you didn't tell him about Squall hitting on you before?"

"No. I think he'll be too mad at himself for letting this happen. You know how driven he is to protect me."

"It's hard to miss. He practically growls when anyone comes within a foot of you. If it wasn't a school fight, I really doubt Squall would still be conscious after pulling a stunt like that with you."

He nodded, knowing that the older teen had a tendency to get carried away when fighting someone he was ticked at. After what had happened, he could honestly say he wouldn't have been able to really blame his boyfriend if he had sent the brunet on an express trip to the hospital. Axel's cell rang, and after answering it, he listened for a second before thanking Zexion and snapping it shut.

"Seif just got out of the nurse's office, he should be here soon. We should be getting to work soon Roxie, come on. I'm sure Hayner won't be randomly attacked by rabid homophobic bunnies if you leave him on his own for a few minutes," the redhead said with a smirk. His boyfriend snorted at the strange image, clearly wondering what the spiky-haired pyro was on, before looking over to his childhood friend. Large eyes rolling, Hayner told him to get his ass to work before he was late. Gripping Hayner's shoulder before he rose, the shorter blond looked conflicted between his duties as a friend and as a working member of society. Sighing and shrugging comically, the green-eyed college student grabbed him by the hand and jerked him away.

Leaning back to look into the cloudy sky, he was distressed to find the color of it reminded him of his biology partner's eyes. It still sickened him to think of what had happened, and he was overcome with the sudden urge to kiss Seifer until he was too dizzy from lack of oxygen to even remember Squall's name. To him it seemed completely rational, and even if it wasn't, he doubted the leader of the Disciplinary Committee would really give a damn.

He closed his eyes while he waited for the blond bully's strange homing system to track him down. It was the reason he didn't text the man with his location, generally he could find the sandy-blond without much trouble. The same was true of Fuu and Rai, they never didn't know where the other was. He guessed it boiled down to how well you knew a person, once you understood what made them tick, you could guess where they'd be in most situations. Maybe he was a hopeless romantic, but it made him feel warm to know that his boyfriend knew him so well.

Nearly jumping when he felt familiar hands wrap around his waist, he jerked his head forward and opened his eyes, meeting a pair of ice blue ones. His cheek looked like it would bruise, but other than that there wasn't much damage to his face, not surprising since out of the two combatants, he was the superior fighter. The stronger teen lifted him to his feet, eyes narrowing a bit when he noticed (of course) that the younger male's lip was damaged.

"You were chewing on your lip again, weren't you? I told you to quit doing that."

"And I thought you understood that I don't want you beating the crap out of kids at school. Assault doesn't go over so well when you don't have the Turks around to cover your ass."

"You can't honestly expect me to let him get away with something like that."

"No, but you could have found a less public place to fight him. Why the fuck did he do that anyways?"

"He's pissed that I'm with you instead of him. I'm guessing everything he did was intended to make me angry so I'd confront him. You okay?"

"No," he answered shortly, pulling the larger blond down the two inches or so that separated them and kissing him. His mouth tasted faintly of blood, meaning either his cheek had split from the punch he'd taken or he'd bitten his tongue. Sharp blue eyes watched him for a moment before he deepened the kiss, eyes closing. How (oddly) cute it was that his boyfriend closed his eyes when kissing him was pretty much the last coherent thought he had. He wrapped his arms around the other's neck just in case he got any crazy ideas about breathing or something equally unnecessary.

Happily ignoring the remarks and whistles, he focused on the warm lips pressed against his, the tongue that twisted and tangled with his until everything else fell away, the events of the day effectively forgotten. A hand wove its way into his hair while its partner made itself at home in the curve of his lower back, guiding their bodies flush against each other. The ends of his fingers tingled and he started to feel lightheaded after some increment of time that could only be affixed with the unit 'not long enough'. Just when he was near to passing out, the elder blond broke the kiss.

Suddenly glad for the arm around his waist, he opened his eyes and waited for the world to quit spinning. They were both panting as they tried to get sufficient oxygen into their systems after depriving themselves of it, and Seifer's lips were redder than normal, eyes a bit brighter of a blue. He'd be lying if he said that his partner wasn't particularly stunning right after a long kiss.

"What was that for?" One golden brow arched questioningly, clearly thinking there was an ulterior motive to the kiss. Of course, there had been, and the need to get rid of the sensation of the brunet man's lips meeting his for an instant had been quite fulfilled.

"Do I need a reason to kiss you? I just wanted to."

"You wanted to get Squall off you, right?" Ice-colored eyes pierced him, as usual able to figure out what he was thinking. Although, now that he thought about it, it would take approximately the cognitive ability of a rock to put two and two together in this situation.

"Could you occasionally be wrong when you guess what I'm thinking? I'd like to keep up the illusion that my thoughts are safe."

He snorted and smirked, "I'll try. But seriously, are you okay?"

"I'm fine Seifer, quit worrying. I'm not going to die just because some creep kissed me while I was trying to wash my hands. Happens all the time really," he added, just to rile his boyfriend up. It worked. The corners of his kiss-reddened mouth turned down and his eyes narrowed.

"If you aren't kidding, I am seriously going to kill someone."

"I am, if people tried that all the time, most of the guys in the school would have broken bones. You don't think I'd just let them. In case you didn't notice, I broke Squall's nose before I even saw you. How long were you there anyways?"

"About when he came up behind you and started running his hands along your stomach," the larger teen said, eyes hard and cold with unresolved anger.

"He wasn't doing anything before that. You really need to stop attracting crazy guys who try to use me to get back at you," he joked with a small smile, trying his best to make light of the situation.

"You need to tell me next time crazy guys are trying to use you to get back at me. This never would have happened if you had said something."

"All he was doing before was hitting on me, it was pretty harmless. I never expected him to pull something like this, or I would have told you. And, I don't think anyone will be trying anything with me after you broke Squall's ribs for what he did."

He could practically see his blue-eyed leader congratulate himself for assumedly scaring away anyone else who might attempt to encroach on his territory. There were moments where it was still hard to believe he was with his crush, and this was one of them. It was surreal to think that the older man was so possessive of him that he'd get into a fight in the middle of school and not even stop to weigh the obvious cons. He vaguely realized Seifer had been saying something when he was flicked on the forehead and leveled with an irritated look.

"Like I was saying, you ready to go home?" Of course he meant his apartment, where the sandy-blond lived the greater portion of the week. Nodding, the sandy-haired college student picked up his bag, only to have it snatched by the other, who slung it over his shoulder opposite his own. Long ago learning he wouldn't get anywhere by arguing that he could carry his own bag, he sighed and shook his head.

Ruffling the shorter boy's hair affectionately, the leader of the Twilight Disciplinary Committee smirked and held out his hand. Taking it and locking their fingers together, the brown-eyed teen smiled to himself as they began to walk home. All things considered, now that Seifer was walking beside him, holding his hand supportively, today hadn't been all that bad.

**Mm, I have the nagging feeling this sucks. Thanks to sexypancake for the idea of another guy hitting on/flirting with Hayner, I kind of twisted it to make it a bit darker than one might expect. Oh, and yeah, you don't need to tell me how OoC Squally is, I know, and this wouldn't have happened if I didn't make him that way. As far as why it took me so long to write something so short and crappy, I've been having shitloads of personal problems, not the least of which are having to put down a cat that was like a child to me, and having trouble dealing with my depression as of late. Also, school. Anyways, hope you enjoyed it (somehow), and I'll try to do better next time. Still needing more suggestions for oneshot topics. And if you don't know why Hayner is a member of the Disciplinary Committee, or why Seifer and Hayner are even together, read my multichap fic Lifeline. This is a oneshot based in the universe created by that fic.**


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